The 18th Century Pub With 21st Century Kitchen

The Shoulder of Mutton is first pub in the country to have an almost pan-less kitchen

Published on February 28th 2012.

THE SHOULDER of Mutton at Holcombe Village in Ramsbottom is becoming the first pub in the country to have a newly developed almost pan-less kitchen.

"It’s brand new to the market," says CHR’s Paul Neville, "and is only the third to be fitted in the country."

When it re-opens on Friday 2 March after a facelift, the £50,000 ‘Eco Chef’ kitchen will cook food in water baths on stoves.

Customers who eat at the eighteenth century pub, on the West Pennine slopes of Holcombe Hill, will even be invited into the kitchen to see their meal being prepared.

"They will have seen nothing like it," says executive chef Chris Yates, a partner in the Lancashire Taverns group that runs the Shoulder of Mutton among its portfolio of four Bolton and Bury area inns.

Chef Chris Yates

"It’s the way kitchens are going in the future and the Shoulder of Mutton is in the lead. Not that we’ll be changing to a modern menu – our food will stay traditional but cooked in a modern French blanching style that simplifies everything, guarantees consistency and is very ‘eco-green’."

The ‘Eco Chef’ kitchen, developed by Preston-based CHR Food Service Equipment, is the first UK-built made-to-measure stove to carry full CE accreditation and meet European conformity directives.

"It’s brand new to the market," says CHR’s Paul Neville, "and is only the third to be fitted in the country."

"Eco Chef is designed to increase cooking speed and accuracy while reducing energy use by more than 50%. The fact that it dramatically reduces the number of pans in the kitchen also means less washing up and that reduces hot water, energy and chemical use."

The kitchen will be fitted during a one-week closure, as part of a pub facelift, and the Shoulder of Mutton reopens with a brand new menu on 2 March.

The ‘Shoulder’ is part of the growing ‘Lancashire Taverns’ group that includes the Chetham Arms at Chapeltown, Bolton, the Pack Horse at Affetside, Bury and the Footballers Inn at Summerseat.

Chris Yates, 25, who runs the business with his father, Craig, has been called one of the most talented young chefs in the country and his casual fine dining menus consistently challenge the standards of even the best restaurants.

He has worked in some of the North West’s best kitchens, with some of its top chefs, from his apprenticeship with Rochdale’s celebrity restaurateur Andrew Nutter to once turning down a job with Michelin-starred TV chef Gordon Ramsay.

Anyway. Have to say this sounds pretty unappetising. You see these water baths being used on the telly and they look disgusting. Where's the texture to the food? You need a bit of charring that only a hot frying pan can give.

And how do you make chips?

And how will it be 'green' when everything will have to be sealed in plastic before being put in the water?

What is it with you people, every second article you write seems to be about the same group of pubs ! I went to the Shoulder the other week it was average . For a change have a drive up to the old bell inn at Saddleworth ,good beer, good food reasonable prices nice pub. I'm sure there are others, you just need to widen your limited horizons.